Field of the Invention
The present invention refers to an apparatus for non-destructive X ray inspecting of liquid foodstuff contained in glass vessels, jars, bottles or similar transparent containers.
This known kind of inspection aims to detect the presence of contaminants in a liquid foodstuff, where the word contaminant means a particle or fragment of a foreign substance having a specific weight higher than that of the foodstuff in which it is accidentally present, that can be for example a glass, metal or stone fragment.
It is well known that in most cases the non-destructive X-ray inspection of liquid foodstuffs in glass vessels o bottles is accomplished through an apparatus provided with a single inspection tube, and therefore with a single viwepoint suitably located with respect to the bottles. This known apparatus is generallly provided with an emitter and a sensor between which the articles to be inspected are moved in a row.
The invention will be illustrated in more details with reference to the inspection of bottles, but this is not to be meant as limiting the invention.
The bottoms of many bottles and glass vessels are inwardly curved, i.e. they have an inwards convexity that creates an annulus with side walls close to each other that is difficult to be inspected through X-ray devices, since a glass, metal or stone contaminant having a specific weight higher than that of the liquid inside the vessel or the bottle to be inspected settles on the vessel bottom. Because of the inwardly convexity of the vessel bottom, in the known inspection apparatus it is difficult to detect the contaminant by using a single viwepoint.